Typhoon Manghut in the Philippines. Several more videos are available on YouTube.

The typhoon is now leaving the Philippines, is expected to gain strength, and is still on a path heading directly for Hong Kong. This typhoon is even more powerful than Hurricane Florence.

Hundreds of flights and ferry services have been canceled. The Hong Kong airport will soon have to close.

My opinion - If you are in Hong Kong or anywhere within the storm's path, if you can get out, then get out - right now! Don't let yourself become one of the people who think everything will be ok, and then when it's too late, discover the hard way you were wrong.

Bebeth Saquing has seen dozens of storms in her lifetime, but nothing prepared her for the terror of Super Typhoon Mangkhut as it roared over her Philippines home Saturday packing winds of more than 250 kilometres (155 miles) per hour.

The most powerful storm to hit the region so far this year left a trail of battered homes, landslides and fallen trees in its wake.

At least four people were killed as the typhoon smashed across the rural north of the country, a farming area home to millions.

"It felt like the end of the world... that was stronger than Lawin", said Saquing, 64, referring to a powerful super typhoon which hit the region in 2016.

"I did not sleep," she told AFP by phone from her home on Luzon, which withstood Mangkhut's pounding.

Evidence of the massive storm's passage was everywhere on Saturday.

Wind-struck power poles bent from the ground at odd angles, while uprooted trees blocked roads. Corrugated steel roofs shivered and bounced in the continuing gusts.

Authorities were just beginning their surveys of the damage on Saturday afternoon.

Convoys were heading out on the winding roads of the rural area, which produces a significant portion of the nation's corn and rice.

'Twice as strong'

Fear was widespread among many of the estimated four million people in the storm's path long before it made landfall.

Thousands of people evacuated high-risk areas following major flooding and landslide warnings.

Myrna Parallag and her two young grandchildren fled their home a day before Mangkhut struck.

"I'm afraid that the floodwaters will be high and will reach our house," the 53-year-old told AFP on Friday as she looked for shelter near the city of Tuguegarao.

This was not her first storm. Parallag survived Lawin, also known as Super Typhoon Haima, but it destroyed her house.

"The newscaster said the typhoon now is twice as strong," added Parallag, who makes money selling street food.

Her worries and those of thousands of others were well founded.

The storm claimed its first victims on Saturday, including two women who were buried when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed.

"As we go forward, this number will go higher," said Ricardo Jalad, head of the national civil defence office, referring to the death toll.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.

TUGUEGARAO, Philippines: Typhoon Mangkhut lashed the northern Philippines with destructive winds and heavy rain that set off landslides and destroyed homes on Saturday, leaving at least 12 people dead, as Hong Kong and other parts of southern China braced for the powerful storm.

In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific announced that all flights into and out of the territory would be cancelled from 2am Sunday until 4am Monday as storm preparations gathered pace.

All parts of Thailand have been warned to brace for varying degrees of rain and flooding caused by Mangkhut from Sunday until Wednesday.

The most ferocious typhoon to hit the disaster-prone Philippines this year slammed ashore before dawn in Cagayan province on the northeastern tip of Luzon island, a breadbasket that is also a region of flood-prone rice plains and mountain provinces with a history of deadly landslides.

China and the Philippines agreed to postpone a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that was to start Sunday due to the onslaught, which caused nearly 150 flights, a third of them international, to be cancelled and halted sea travel.

Presidential adviser Francis Tolentino said the 12 people who perished had died mostly in landslides and houses that got pummeled by the storm’s fierce winds and rain. Among the dead were an infant and a 2-year-old child who died with their parents after the couple refused to immediately evacuate from their high-risk community in a mountain town in Nueva Vizcaya province, Tolentino said.

“They can’t decide for themselves where to go,” he said of the children, expressing frustration that the tragedy was not prevented.

Tolentino, who has been assigned by President Rodrigo Duterte to help coordinate disaster response, said at least two other people were missing and added that the death toll could climb to at least 16 once other casualty reports were verified.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said at least three people died and six others were missing in his mountain city of Baguio after strong winds and rain destroyed several houses and set off landslides, which also blocked roads to the popular vacation destination. It was not immediately clear whether the deaths and missing cited by Domogan had been included in Tolentino’s count.

Authorities were verifying the drownings of three people, including two children who reportedly died as the typhoon approached. About 70 men reportedly returned to their coastal village in Cagayan to check on their homes as the typhoon drew closer Friday, but Tolentino said he had received no report of the men figuring in an accident.

Mangkhut’s sustained winds weakened to 170 kilometres per hour with gusts of up to 260kph after it sliced northwestward across Luzon before blowing out to the South China Sea, aiming at Hong Kong and elsewhere in southern China.

About 87,000 people evacuated from high-risk areas of the Philippines. Tolentino and other officials advised them not to return home until the lingering danger had passed.

“It’s still a life and death situation,” Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, citing past drownings in swollen rivers in mountain provinces after storms had passed.

Storm warnings remained in effect in 10 northern provinces, including Cagayan, which could still be lashed by devastating winds, forecasters said. Thousands of people in the typhoon’s path had been evacuated.

At daybreak in Cagayan’s capital, Tuguegarao, Associated Press journalists saw a severely damaged public market, its roof ripped apart and wooden stalls and tarpaulin canopies in disarray. Outside a popular shopping mall, debris was scattered everywhere and government workers cleared roads of fallen trees.

Many stores and houses were damaged but most residents remained indoors as occasional gusts sent small pieces of tin sheets and other debris flying dangerously.

The Tuguegarao airport terminal was badly damaged, its roof and glass windows shattered by strong winds that also sent chairs, tables and papers flipping about inside, Lorenzana said.

The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in Cagayan, a major agricultural producer, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba said.

A government damage assessment was underway except in areas still being battered by winds and rain. Two air force C-130 cargo planes and 10 helicopters were on standby in Manila, the Philippines’ capital, to help transport rescuers and aid supplies.

More than 5 million people were at risk from the storm, which the Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center downgraded from a super typhoon. Mangkhut, however, was still punching powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane.

In Hong Kong, Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents to prepare for the worst as Mangkhut barreled toward the territory.

“Because Mangkhut will bring winds and rains of extraordinary speeds, scope and severity, our preparation and response efforts will be greater than in the past,” Lee said. “Each department must have a sense of crisis, make a comprehensive assessment and plan, and prepare for the worst.”

In nearby Fujian province on the Chinese mainland, 51,000 people were evacuated from fishing boats and around 11,000 vessels returned to port on Saturday morning.

China’s National Meteorological Center issued an alert saying Mangkhut would make landfall somewhere on the coast in Guangdong on Sunday afternoon or night, packing strong winds and heavy rains.

Ferry services in the Qiongzhou Strait in southern China were halted on Saturday and helicopters and tugboats dispatched to Guangdong to transfer offshore workers to safety and warn ships about the typhoon, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Mangkhut is the 15th storm this year to batter the Philippines, which is hit by about 20 a year and is considered one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines in 2013.

Gaybutton wrote:My opinion - If you are in Hong Kong or anywhere within the storm's path, if you can get out, then get out - right now! Don't let yourself become one of the people who think everything will be ok, and then when it's too late, discover the hard way you were wrong.

Normally I would entirely agree. But in Hong Kong it is difficult for people to go anywhere. Flights will have been full for the last 2 or 3 days as people due to leave during the typhoon period will have left early. In any case the airport is now closed. Ferries and trains have also been suspended. But these are useless anyway for unless you have a valid China visa you cannot get into the country. Besides, Hong Kong is so used to typhoons, even the strongest ones. My advice is that you are far better holed up in your hotel, preferably with nice company and a batch of DVDs. At least there you will have air con, F&B services, full terrestrial and cable TV service and a place to sleep.

With the No. 10 signal now hoisted, no one will be on the streets. So no possible way to get anywhere.

fountainhall wrote:At least there you will have air con, F&B services, full terrestrial and cable TV service and a place to sleep.

That's fine as long a the power doesn't go out. Before you tell me that hotels have generators, I'm aware of that. Hopefully they can maintain power for their guests and hopefully hotel staff will show up for work, if they can. But for people who did not leave, now there is no other choice other than to remain at their hotels.

Fair point but I have never known power to go out in the commercial and residential districts during a typhoon - ever! You have to remember that power cables in Hong Kong are underground - so it’s totally unlike The Philippines and much of the USA. Perhaps in the lower lying areas in what used to be called the New Territories there may be some liable to a short power outage. But not almost everywhere else. If that was even a remote possibility I am certain the hotels would all have their own generators.

Since no one can move around outside because of the extreme wind and the danger of flying debris, all hotels will have made arrangements well in advance with their staff to ensure that many stay in the hotel during a typhoon so that guests notice little difference in levels of staffing.

Cathay Pacific has just announced it expects to restart flight operations after 4:00 a.m on Monday morning. But passengers are asked to note that resumption will be slow in view of many aircraft being out of position elsewhere in the world. A full flight schedule may take several days.

CNN is reporting that Typhoon Mangkhut lashed Hong Kong for 12 hours but the territory survived relatively unscathed despite Mangkhut being one of the most ferocious in recent decades. Sustained winds of 173 kilometres per hour with gusts of up to 223 kph were recorded in the afternoon. The storm surge in the harbour raised the water level by 3.9 meters.

Many streets are covered in debris, some from broken or uprooted trees, many of which had survived previous typhoons, There is glass around from broken windows and one crane on a high-rise development crashed to the ground. But no deaths or injuries have so far been reported.

The entire article is amazing. With a typhoon of that strength, it looks to me like Hong Kong's main aftermath problems are cleanup and flooding. Hong Kong obviously withstood the typhoon far better than the Carolinas._____________________________________________

Flights resume to Hong Kong after typhoon moves on

September 17, 2018

HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and some other airlines resumed services to Hong Kong, a city that was battered over the weekend by a powerful typhoon, forcing the cancellation of almost 900 flights.

The city’s flag carrier reported on its website “a gradual return to scheduled flight operations” starting Monday morning. The Hong Kong International Airport said in a Twitter post Sunday that passengers should proceed to the terminals only when their seats and flight time have been confirmed.

“Service resumption will likely be very slow, and still subject to weather conditions, with continued delays and some cancellations,” Cathay cautioned passengers. The carrier scrapped more than 400 flights over the weekend, while Cathay Dragon and Hong Kong Airlines grounded their fleets.

Hong Kong is limping back to normality as the Hong Kong Observatory lowered its rating to a Strong Wind Signal No.3 on Typhoon Mangkhut. The storm left a trail of destruction in the Philippines before heading toward the Pearl River delta in southeastern China, where Hong Kong is located.

Some flights at the airport in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, have also resumed Monday, according to the airport’s website.

Although Hong Kong escaped the brunt, media reports showed images of apartment building windows being blown out, trees being uprooted, scaffoldings collapsing and a crane falling off a building at a construction site. Storm surges raised sea levels by as much as four meters higher than usual in Tsim Sha Tsui, the South China Morning Post reported.